Narrow Gauge Railways of East Prussia - a network of small narrow gauge lines with a ( gauge width of 750 mm ), which complemented the network of railways of standard width.
History
The period of the most rapid railway construction in East Prussia , especially its northern part, was the second half of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. During these years, the region created the basis for railway connections between the largest cities of the province (in the north - Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ), Insterburg (now Chernyakhovsk , Tilsit (now Sovetsk )) with access to the sea and to the border areas. Standard European routes were used on the lines track 1435 mm wide.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a network of narrow gauge lines was created. She connected Königsberg and the district centers with rural settlements. Narrow-gauge railways had stops at almost every village, at the intersections of rural roads, at the main forest clearings. The maximum distances between stations did not exceed 0.5-1 km. The first narrow-gauge road connecting Koenigsberg with the Curonian Lagoon of Schaaksvitte (now Kashirskoye) was built in 1899-1900 [1] .
The road from Tilsit to Wieszwil and Smalininkai was conceived in 1872. First of all, farmers and forestries were interested in it. Earl von Lamsdorf, Governor of Ragaine County, initially disagreed with this project. From his point of view, “for a wild, forested region,” the railway was an excess. Nevertheless, after much debate, work began. The URD route went along the old postal road with slight deviations.
There were two stations in Wieschwil: the western and the eastern - and a branch to the sawmill 1.5-2 km long. A repair station was equipped in Smalininkai to repair locomotives, locomotives and wagons.
The narrow gauge railway belonged to the Insterburg Railway Society (Insterburger Kleinbahnen, IKB) and was opened on August 12, 1902. Its length was 58 km. The trip lasted 2.5 hours. In 1907, when the Queen Louise bridge was built in Tilsit, an electrified narrow gauge railway Tilsit (bazaar) - Mikitai was laid . A trip along it took only 30 minutes, which was very convenient for residents of Tilsit and eastern Memel (now Klaipeda ). Two trains, consisting of class II and III cars, ran along this line at a speed of 15 km / h. At the bazaar in Tilsit it was possible to transfer to city trams.
In 1908, URZD received a diesel electric locomotive that could pull trains at a speed of 32 km / h, while the steam locomotive accelerated only to 25 km / h. The branch on Pagegyai was opened on May 1, 1914.
Cold and snowy winters gave UZD employees a lot of trouble. Snowfalls delayed trains for a long time, and passengers waited for drifts in cars heated by coal: they talked, played cards, sometimes drank. Those in a hurry borrowed skis from local residents. When the train got stuck for a long time, passengers were transported on a sleigh. Steam locomotives were refueled directly from a river near the Jurava Forestry.
There were also lines Insterburg — Kraupichken, Insterburg — Skaysgirren and Insterburg — Tremnen [2] .
By 1939, the length of narrow gauge communications in the north of Prussia was 442 km. The largest was the Insterburg narrow gauge railway with a total length of 220 kilometers [3] .
After 1945, the state border that separated Kaliningrad Oblast from Poland , the unified railway network was destroyed, and all narrow-gauge and most of the local lines were dismantled. The Smalininkai – Pagegyai Line still existed in 1952. In Smalininkai, the old station building remains. In Germany, not far from Bremen, in the narrow-gauge museum you can see the old locomotive of this railway.